CIRCULAR LETTER 



OF 



The Society of The Cincinnati 



IN THE 



State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 



JULY 4, J 906 



CIRCULAR LETTER 



OF 



The Society of The Cincinnati 



IN THE 



State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 



JULY 4, 1906 



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Senate Chamber, 
State House, Newport, R. I., J- 
July 4, 1906. 

Proceedings of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations in Annual Meeting convened on the 
One Hundred and Thirty-first Anniversary of the Independence of the 
United States of America. 

(Extract.) 



Brevet Brigadier General Hazard Stevens, Chairman Special 
Committee on certain publications received from the Treasurer* of 
the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, submitted the 
following report : 



* At the Annual meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Vir- 
ginia held in Richmond, Va., on July 4, 1906 — this Officer was elected Secretary 
of that State Society and relinquished the office of Treasurer. 



"Senate Chamber, 
State House, Newport, R. I. J. 
July 4, 1906. 
To the Honorable 

SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI, 
In the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: 

The undersigned, heretofore duly appointed a Special Committee to 
consider and report, with recommendations, upon certain printed documents 
received from the Treasurer of the Honorable Society of the Cincinnati in 
the State of Virginia, respectfully report that said documents appear to 
have been widely disseminated and your Special Committee accordingly 
recommend that the Circular Letter herewith submitted in relation thereto 
be approved, printed and transmitted to said State Society and to the 
General Society and to the other State Societies. 

Respectfully submitted: 

HAZARD STEVENS, 
EDWARD ABORN GREENE, 
CHARLES CROOKE EMOTT, 

Committee."* 

On motion of General Stevens, the report was then, by unani- 
mous vote, accepted, approved and ordered spread on the Minutes, and 
the Circular Letter, by unanimous vote, approved and ordered to be 
published and transmitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in the State 
of Virginia and to the General Society and several State Societies. 
* * * * * -::- -x 

Attest: 

Geobge W. ( )lk ey, 

Secretary. 



*Bvt. Brig. Genl. Hazard Stevens. A.M., iTft 1b., Admitted 1887. Great-grandson of Major and brevet 
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lyman. Aide de Camp Continental Army, Original Member. 

Mr. Edward Aborn Greene, Ph. B., Admitted 1893. Great-great grandson of Colonel Christopher Greene, 
1st Regiment Rhode Island Continental Infantry, killed in Bkirmish at Pine's Bridge, N. Y., May 14, 
17M. Great-grandson of Lieutenant Job Greene, 3d Regiment Infantry, Rhode Island State Brigade in 
Continental Service, Original Member. 

Mr. Charles Crooke Emott, A. B., LL. B., Admitted 1887. Great grandson of Colonel Archibald Crary, 
3d Regiment Infantry, Rhode Island State Brigade in Continental Service, Original Member. 




i 7 8 3 
The Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

Senate Chamber, 
State House, Newport, E,. I., V 
July 4, 1906. J 
To the 

Soi iety of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

State of Virginia : 

Under the Institution of 1783 a State meeting may, as often as 
necessary, write a circular letter, " noting whatever it may think worthy 
of observation respecting the good of the Society or the general union 
of the States." 

During the past Cincinnati year several printed documents have 
been received by this Society purporting to have come from you, 
although none of them have been authenticated by your Secretary, as 
customary under the Institution, and as exemplified in resolves of your 
State Society when its business was conducted by Veteran Original 
members. 

These printed documents are; 

I. — A series of preambles and resolutions concerning the Institu- 
tion of the Cincinnati and the action heretofore taken thereunder by 
State Societies. 



These preambles and resolutions appear to have been proposed to 
your Society by your Treasurer, and it is stated that they were adopted 
at a special meeting of your Society held in Richmond, Va., on Decem- 
ber 15, 1905. 

This document is entitled "A Circular Letter," to which replies 
are requested from State Societies, to be addressed to the Treasurer of 
your Society as Chairman of a Committee of Three of your members, 
whose names are mentioned. 

II. — An address purporting to have been delievered by the Treas- 
urer of your Society, at said alleged special meeting of December 
15, 1905. 

III. — A series of By-Laws proposed by the Treasurer of your 
Society and purporting to have been adopted at said alleged special 
meeting of your Society on December 15, 1905. 

These have also been transmitted by the Treasurer of your Society. 

IV. — A subsequent printed address, of sixteen pages, by the Treas- 
urer of your Society in seeming explanation and defense of the above- 
recited action alleged to have been taken on December 15, 1905. 

This address, it is stated, has been transmitted by him " by direc- 
tion of the Standing Committee" of your Society. Tt is dated March 
15, 1906. 

The several documents mentioned having, as apparently intended 
by their author, been special/;/ submitted for our consideration, remark 
and action on particular subjects and reply requested, to be directed to 
him, we shall, in the language of His Excellency, President General 
Washington, when replying on March 1, 1799, to Major General 
William Heath, who had sent, him a copy of his " Military Memoirs," 
" avail ourselves of the liberty allowed us to express our sentiments with 
the utmost candor and freedom,'' without being liable, in any degree, 
to the imputation of intrusion into the affairs of a co-ordinate State- 
Society. 

Preliminary to any discussion of special matters, it is essential to 
consider the organization, powers and limitations of the General Society 
and of the several State Societies, and to point out the erroneous con- 
clusions in relation thereto as shown in the before-mentioned documents. 



I. 

THE GENERAL SOCIETY AND STATE SOCIETIES. 

Your Treasurer has said as follows, viz.: 

That the General Society is only an " advisory conference " and its 
authority limited to " surest ions " which " can have no legal or binding 
effect whatever until ratified by the. several State Societies," and that 
State Societies are the sole repository of executive power, and that the 
General Society " may bave assumed powers and authority, but the 

State Societies do not r< gnize such assumed authority under the laws 

of the Institution " and that " the General Society has no legal authority 
under the Institution to revive a dormant ( ?) State Society, as that 
power is inherent in the State Societies themselves," and that the Gen- 
eral Society ■■ is merely a shadow without a substance, and <i mry poor 
shadow at thai." 

If the General Society is, as now asserted by your Treasurer', 
merely a shadow without a substance, it is, nevertheless, certain that 
His Excellency, President General Washington, believed quite dif- 
ferently, when lie called it to meet, in Philadelphia, Penn., on May 4, 
1784, and journeyed there in his carriage from Mount Vernon, Va., 
and presided for thirteen days oxer the deliberation- of one of the most 
distinguished assemblies which ever met in America. 

It is equally certain that the General Officers and delegates from 
thirteen State Societies, who then met, and whose patriotic deeds and 
public services are treasured records in American history, as well as the 
eminent men who have since, to 1905 inclusive, participated in meetings 
of the General Society, including Signers of the Declaration of rude 
pendence and Presidents of the Continental Congress, nil helieved 

when they adopted ordinances and resolves for the g 1 of the Society, 

other than resolves whose expressed object was a proposed alteration 
of the Institution, that the General Society had jurisdiction in tic 
premises. 

Your Treasurer's theory that the State Societies are the soli reposi- 
tory of executive authority in the Society of the Cincinnati makes it 
accessary, in order to demonstrate it- fallacy, to give the history of its 
formation at the Cantonments of the American Army on Hudson River, 
near Newburgh, on May 10, 1783, and. in doing so, it is pertinent to 
observe, at the outset, thai there is no analogy between the origin of the 
Institution of the Cincinnati and the origin of the Constitution of the 
United States, although there is found in the latter methods of adminis 
tration which may have Keen derived from the former. 



The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati was not formed 
by State Societies, but by Commissioned Officers of the Main Conti- 
nental Army of the War of the Revolution, a number of whom were 
not citizens of any of the States and never became members of the State 
Societies which were all after-ward organized. 

When the Convention of Officers met in Cantonments on May 10, 
1783, it was composed as follows, viz. : 

First — General Officers holding their commissions from the Con- 
tinental Congress and not belonging to any State Continental Line. 

These attended of their own motion and not by election because they 
were General Officers, and among them were the Adjutant General, 
Inspector General, Chief of Artillery and Chief of Engineers. 

Second — Officers of the Continental Corps of Engineers and Con- 
tinental Sappers and Miners. 

These were wholly Continental and respectively elected their own 
representation to the Convention. 

Most of them were foreign officers — some holding commissions in 
the French army. 

They had nothing to do with the States. 

Third — Officers of the Continental Corps of Artillery and Cavalry 
and Continental Legionary Corps. 

These organizations had been raised by the Continental Congress 
wholly irrespective of State Lines, and many of the officers, particularly 
in the Legionary Corps, were foreigners. 

They elected their respective representations to the Convention. 

Fourth — Officers of the Canadian Regiment Continental Infantry, 
which was wholly Continental, and had been originally raised in 
Canada, whence most of the officers came. 

These officers sent their representation. 

Fifth — Officers of the Invalid Regiment Continental Infantry, 
which was wholly Continental, and raised by Congress, irrespective of 
State Line-. 

These officers sent their representation. 

Sixth — Officers of the Provost Troop of Continental Light Dra- 
goons, which was an independent organization wholly Continental. 
These officers also sent their representation. 

Lastly — The few Continental Regiments or reduced battalions of 
Infantry still in service from the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

8 



Xew York, New Jersey, and battalion of four companies from .Mary- 
land, the officers of each of which senl a representation. 

The officers there of the New Hampshire Continental Line appear, 
however, to have taken no part in forming the Society — nor did they 
become members — probably out of deference to the wishes of Brigadier 
General Johm Stakk. their brigade < !ommander, who did not favorably 
consider the proposition for a Military Society. 

As a consequence, in order to organize that honored Slate Society, 
the Institution had to be sent by President General Washington to 
Major General John Sullivan, then in civil life, at Exeter, N. II.. 
where that State Society was duly organized, on November 23, 1783. 

In .Major General IIkxky Knox's proposed Institution, which was 
submitted to the Convention and formed the basis of the Institution, it 
was provided that " the General Milling of the Society shall consist of 
all the members who may find it convenient to attend," and also that the 
officers of the several Slate Societies " shall consider themselves under 
indispensable obligations to attend." 

The underlying theory of this proposition was that the General 
Society was the collective Society of the "one Society of Friends " in 
General meeting assembled to concert measures for the good of the whole 
Society other than those which were exclusively of local State conceru. 

If was deemed, however, too uncertain a method of securing gen- 
eral attendance and equable representation from all quarters, consider- 
ing the difficulties and expense of traveling as then prevailed, and, 
accordingly, the proposition was amended and the Institution, as then 
adopted, provided that 

"the meeting of the General Society shall isist of its 

" Officers and a representation from each State Society, in 
'" number not exceeding five, whose expenses shall be borne 
" li\ their respective State Societies." 

The General Officers thus designated as forming an integral part 
of the Genera] Society, just as much so as the representations from the 
respective State Societies, were the President General, Vice-President 
General. Secretary General, Treasurer General, Assistant Secretary 
General and Assistanl Treasurer General. 

No State Societies were in existence when the Institution was 
formed. That instrument, however, provided thai 

the General Society irill. for the sake of frequent eommuni- 
cations, be divided into State Societies." 

9 



The Institution also provided that a copy should lie given to the 
senior officer of each State Line in ( Jantonments so that the officers of the 
respective State Lines might sign their names to the same and assemble 
as soon as may be in order to organize their respective State Societies. 

As to " the General Officers ami the officers delegated to represent 
the several Corps of the Army" they were required to " subscribe t<> tin 
Institution- of tin- General Society, for themselves and their constituents, 
in the manner ami form prescribed." 

The rolls subscribed by these General Officers ami officers thus dele- 
gated, in order to become members of the Society of the Cincinnati, 
were deposited with the Secretary General and were not the rolls from 
which the respective State Societies were formed. 

They might thereafter become members of Stale Societies if they so 
desired, but they paid their required mouth's pay to the Treasurer Gen- 
eral and not to the Treasurer of a State Society, and thisiund, thus con- 
stituted, became the basis of the General Society fund since administered 
by the Treasurer General. 

By the Institution, as adopted [May 10, 1783, His Excellency, Gen- 
eral Geokge Washington, Commander-in-Chief, was chosen President 
Genera], and a committee of three .Major Generals was appointed to 
notify him. 

On June lb, 1783; the Convention of Officers having reassembled 
in Cantonments, elected Major General Henrt Knox to be Secretary 
General and Major Genera] Alexandeb MacDougall to lie Treasurer 
Genera], all the General Officers of the Society of the Cincinnati having, 
at the outset, been Genera] Officers of the Continental Army, and, at 
the General Society Meeting, held in Philadelphia on May 1.'., 1784, 
all the General Officers of the Society then unanimously chosen were 
also Continental General Officers. 

Meanwhile, on June '.», 1783, the officers of tin- Massachusetts and 
New York Continental lines, who had already become member- of the 
Order, preliminarily organized their respective State Societies at the 
Cantonments near Newburgh, ami, in like manner, the officers of the 
New Jersey Continental Line on June 11. 1783, organized their State 
Society in camp at Elizabethtown, X. .1., to which station they had been 
ordered after the Institution had been adopted. 

All other State Societies were organized later, the next being our 
own. which was preliminarily organized at Saratoga Barracks on Upper 
Hudson River, on June 2-1, 1783, where the "Rhode Island Continental 
Lino was guarding the Northern Frontier. 

10 



Aside from the respective Continental Slate Lines, those members 
who were foreigners, not resident in any of the States, had their names 
enrolled by the Secretary General, as required by the Institution. 

Some of these never joined any State Society but went abroad as 
soon as honorably discharged from service, while others became members 
in America or in France. 

This historical review demonstrates that the General Society was 
not formed by the Slate Societies into which, under the Institution, it 
is divided for the sake of frequent communications, and that but very 
few Continental Stale Lines had any part in the formation of the Insti- 
tition, and that State Societies, when finally organized, did not include 
all the members of the Order. 

It is pertinent to note, in this connection, that, at the so-called meet- 
ing of your Society, held on December 15, 1905, the several State Socie- 
ties of the Cincinnati are admittedly termed " Slate Branches," which 
is in accordance with the terms of the Institution which prescribes that 
the Genera] Society shall, for certain purposes, be divided into State 
Societies. 

The history of the formation of the Institution having been given, 
the next subject to lie considered is its scope and intent, ami the powers, 
delegated and implied, conferred thereby on the General Society and 
on the several State Societies. 

These cannot lie ascertained from its mere perusal, and hence, 
when the precedents of the Society and settled rules of construction 
and interpretation are not known, erroneous conclusions are reached 
which, it is hoped, will now he rectified 

The Institution adopted on May 10, 17^:1, was, as stated by Presi- 
dent General Washington in a communication of date May 15, 1784, 
'■lit' necessity drawn up in a hasty manner at an epoch as 
'• extraordinary as it will be memorable in the annals of man- 
" kind, when the mind, agitated by a variety of emotions, was 
'•'not at liberty to digest our ideas in so correct <t form 'if 
" could have been wished." 
In another letter, President General Washington wrote that 
"' it was inh tided to comprehend in the original Institution of 
"the Cincinnati many officers who, through want of better 
"information and a peculiarity of circumstances, were 
" omitted." 
Even within a few weeks after the adoption of the Institution it 
bad to l>e altered on June 19, 1783, by the Convention of Officers who 

11 



had framed it on May 10, 1783, so as to substitute the Bald American 
Eagle as the Order of the Society instead of a mere medal and to 
authorize the General Society to issue diplomas of membership. 

When the General Society met in Philadelphia in May, 1784, it 
consisted, as required by the Institution, of the General Officers and 
a distinguished delegation from every State Society except France. 

The Society in France would also have been represented if Presi- 
dent General Washington had believed that that State Society could 
lawfully delegate to him its power to designate three of its members 
from among French officers then in the United States, to represent it. 

One of the first acts of the General Society, on May 5, 1784, was 
to "go into a Cominitte of the Whole to take into consideration the 
Institution of the Society," and, on the following day, the Committee 
lit' the Whole reported that it was 

unanimously of Hie opinion that sundry matters and thine/* 
therein contained ought to be em-reefed." 

Had the Institution then merely been rewritten to express more 
clearly the actual intent of the Founders, as enunciated in many 
resolves of interpretation passed from day to day at that General 
Meeting, the rewritten Institution would have been recognized nemino 
contra diecnle, but it was decided at the same time to idler it in funda- 
mental particulars, which, as no method was prescribed in that instru- 
ment for alteration, could only be effected by unanimous consent of all, 
including the General Officers and delegates to the General Society and 
thr several State Societies. 

The General Society, in its communication to every State Society, 
including the Society in France, distinctly specified what the altera- 
tions were which made unanimous consent necessary, not only by the 
General Society but by every State Meeting. 

In all other particulars (except said alterations), as for example, 
the description of the American Bald Eagle as the Order of the Society 
(instead of a medal), and that Continental Navy and Marine Officers 
and officers of State Regiments who had been in Continental service for 
three years of the War of the Revolution, and certain French Army 
and Navy Officers were comprehended among those qualified for origi- 
nal membership, and that every member should ho given a diploma, 
the amended Institution was, and always has been, accepted as inter- 
preting nnl expressing the true intent of the Founders of the Insti- 
tution. 

12 



In the language of Hon: Charles Stewart Daveis, LL.D., Vice- 
President General, in his report on July 5, 1858, to the Massachusetts 
Slate Society, of which he was President, the amended Institution of 
17M (other than the alterations), was "only a recast, with a few 
verbal or virtual variations." 

Every Siato Society lias since acted under the amended Institu- 
tion in those particulars, although several such Societies had refused 
io approve the proposed organic alterations, which "alterations, conse- 
quently, failed to become effective. 

President General ELamiltom Fish, on May 7. L851, on behalf 
of a committee, reported to (lie General Society thai the Original Insti- 
tution was not framed 

" with the precision and formalities usual in preparing legal 
" documents. It looked to general results, well understood 
■• by those who were parties to its formation, bu1 not expressed 

"with the precision which leaves no r n for doubt in the 

"minds >d' those who are to obtain their knowledge of irs 
" intention only [nun its perusal." 

This fact explains why the Treasurer of your Society has. from 
its mere perusal, concluded that " the rules of the Institution are not 
being observed throughout the Society of the Cincinnati" because of 
his want of knowledge of the intent of the Founders demonstrated in 
many ways during a series of years and well understood in those State 
Societies which have had continuous existence since 1783. 

There is strong analogy in scope and intent, hut not in formation, 
between the Institution of tin' Cincinnati and the Constitution of the 
United States, which original members of the Society of the < lincinnati, 
in their quality as members of the Constitutional Convention, look so 
potential a part in framing, and of which nil the original members of the 
Society look so active a part in their respective Siates in securing the 
adoption. 

Indeed, the only political principle found in the Institution of the 

Cincinnati required the members to exert themselves unceasingly to 

secure for themselves and their posterity thai union and national honor 

which subsequently found expression in the Constitution of the United 

es. 

They hail no other political principle. 

Keference may, therefore, properly be made to analogous decisions 
of the Supreme Court of the United States and standard text writers 
as indicating the plan and scope of the Institution. 

13 



Chief Justice John Marshall, in McCulloch cs. Maryland, 
said: 

"A ('(institution, to contain an accurate detail of all 
" the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and 
" of all the means by which they may be carried into execu- 
"' tion, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and 
" could scarcely be embraced by the human mind * *. 

"Its nature, therefore, requires that only its great out- 
" lines should lie marked, its important objects designated. 
" and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be 
"deduced from the nature of the objects themselves." 

The United States Supreme Court, in the Legal Tender cases, 
also said : 

•' 'We do not expect to find in a Constitution minute 
'" details. It prescribes outlines, leaving the filling up to be 
"' deduced from the outlines. It is necessarily brief and com- 
'' prehensive." 

Professor Joins NTokton Pomeeot, LL.D., in his great work on 
Constitutional law, said : 

•• Congress has an unlimited choice among all the means 
"' and methods which tend to accomplish any end enumerated 
•' in the general grants of the Constitution *. Iu 

■* this manner the United States Government, while pursuing 
" the legitimate objects for which it was organized, may inter- 
" fere with many subjects which are committed to the several 
" States and which ordinarily fall under their exclusive 
" jurisdiction." 

This principle is well illustrated under the [nstitution of the Cin- 
cinnati, where the General Society, pursuing the legitimate objects for 
which it was organized, proceeded to revive your State Society, judge 
of the qualifications of your members and admit them as Cincinnati, 
including your Treasurer, and most, if not all. of the gentlemen who 
are stated to have taken part in the alleged special meeting of Decem- 
ber 1">. 1905, although the Institution specially devolves on the State 
Societies the duty of judging of the qualifications of their members, 
and nowhere specifically gives to the General Society the powers which 
it thus exercised in your behalf iu organizing your State Society. 

The General Society also required as a prerequisite to your admis- 
sion as a component part of the Order, that every member admitted by 

14 



ii. or by you thereafter during a fixed period, should contribute a pre 
scribed sum to the Permanent Fund, and thai you should be governed 
by the Rules and Regulations of the Massachusetts Cincinnati for the 
same period, to all of which you had in consent as a condition precedent 
to revival. 

The authority to exercise these powers in "One Society of 
Friend-" is not, as before remarked, conferred on the General Society 
l>\ any specific provision of the [nstitution, but is found among the 
implied powers inherent in that body ;is incident to the objects for 
which it was created ami for the perpetuation of the Institution as 
intended by the Founder-. 

Thus, at the Triennial meeting id' the General Society, held in 
Philadelphia May 19, ITsT, it was 

•• Ordered, That the several State Societies he punctual 
"hereafter in communicating to the General Meeting fair 
"and accurate returns of their respective members, properly 
'•authenticated; and that Hi<' said Societies 'In. in nil things, 
" strictly conform In the principles of the Institution." 

No State meeting, composed of Veteran Original Members ever 
presumed to suggest that this order was not comprehended in the 
implied powers of the General Society. Fair and accurate returns, 
properly authenticated, have since then continuously been submitted. 

\- further illustrative of this subject, the General Society, at its 
meetings sinci L784, ha- assessed every State meeting equally for the 
expenses thereof — an assessment never disputed as inequitable or as 
not comprehended among the implied powers of the General Society 
i" enable it to pursue legil imate objects. 

This condition existed under the [nstitution, with Washington 
as President General, and if the General Society had qo1 possessed the 
implied sovereign power to act a- above stated, there would not now he 
a Stale Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia. 

A- before remarked, the Genera] Society is, under the Institution 
of 1783, " for the sake of frequenl communications, divided into State 
Societies." 

\o part, therefore, can he greater than the whole. 

It is not necessary now to go into extended exposition of the rea- 
sons which, in 1783, rendered such subdivisions of the Genera] Society 
necessary. 

Mo-i of tin' Continental Officers, qualified for Original Mem- 

15 



bership, had, at that time, already gone to their homes under one or 
other of the several reductions of the American Army. 

There was then no mail communication and hardly any carriage 
roads in the country, and traveling was difficult, expensive, tedious 
and fatiguing, and but for the expedient of State Meetings and author- 
ity given to them to enroll those qualified for Original Membership 
and to admit Hereditary and Honorary Members, the Order would 
have been confined to the few who signed the Institution in one or ;he 
other of the Cantonments of the American Army on the Hudson or in 
the Harbor of Charleston, S. O, and would soon have ceased to exist. 

The authority thus given to State Societies, into which the General 
Society was divided, " to regulate everything respecting themselves," 
was, however, coupled with the significant controlling limitation that all 
such action by a State Society must, in order to be valid, lie " con- 
sistent ivith the general maxims of the Cincinnati/ 1 

The General Maxims of the Cincinnati, to which a State Society 
must conform, are deducible from the context of the Institution and 
the Ordinances and Resolves of interpretation of the General Society, 
which represents the Order as one Society of Friends. 

Many of these precedents or general maxims of the Cincinnati 
were formulated when President General Washington presided in 
General Meeting, and others were enunciated in subsequent General 
Meetings when only Veteran Original Members still controlled the 
destinies of the Order. 

Let a State Society depart in any fundamental particular from 
these General Maxims, and it would be the duty of the General Society, 
under its implied powers, recognized in tin' reorganization of extinct 
State Societies, to take such punitive or remedial action toward such 
a State Society as departed from such General Maxims as would best 
accomplish the object of insuring uniformity under aud observance of 
the Institution. 

This implied power in lb' 1 General Society in which every State 
Society has equal representation, is supplemented by a controlling 
expressed power, requiring that at every meeting of the General 
Society, the Circular Letters, which have been written by the 

" respective Stale Societies to each other, and their particular 
" laws, shall be read and considered, "inl all measures con- 
" certed" (i. e., adjusted and settled") "which may conduce 
"to the genera] intendment of the Society." 



Thus is put upon the General Society the actual duty of super- 
vision, to see that the State Societies, into which it is divided for the 
sake of frequent communications, shall do nothing inconsistent with 
the General Maxims of the Cincinnati, nor contrary to the require- 
ments of the Institution, nor the general intendment of the Society. 

So long as a State Society keeps within these limitations, it may 
regulate everything respecting itself and judge of the qualifications of 
its members, but let it do anything inconsistent with the General 
Maxims of the Cincinnati, or, for example, adept a By-Law with an 
eligibility clause as to membership different from that prescribed in 
the Institution, or other act in derogation of the general intendment 
of the Society, and the General Society may take such action as in its 
judgment will host right the wrong thus attempted against the whole 
Society. 

There is no uncertainty in this grant of power, and, if reference 
is made to the Amended Institution of May, 17 s 1. which was rewritten 
in order to correctly express the intent of the Founders on this subject, 
it i- found that pari of the business of the General Society was declared 

" to conform the By-Laws of the State Meeting to the general 

" objects of the Institution." 
As already remarked, specific alterations, which were not mere 
amendments for greater precision, in the rewritten Institution of May, 
L784, made it aeeessary, in the absence of a prescribed method of 
alteration, to submit the instrument for unanimous consent in order 
that the proposed alterations should become effective, and the Virginia 
Society, on October •">. 1784, unanimously approved it, thus recognizing 
tin' authority of the General Society over the By-Laws of a State 
Society which do not conform to the Institution. This action by the 
Veteran Original Members of the Virginia State Society was never 
n scinded. 

n. 

LEGALITY OF THE SPECIAL OR EXTRA MEETING, PURPORTING 
TO HAVE BEEN HELD ON DECEMBER 15, 1905. 

Xotice of such a meeting appears to have been given. by letter by 
the President of your Society and not by publication in the news- 
papers. 

The Regulation adopted by the Virginia Society on November 16, 
L786, put the duty of calling an extra meeting or special meeting on 
the Standing Committee, instead of the President, and prescribed that 

17 



" their business shall be to call extra meetings whenever they may deem 
it necessary, giving at least thirty clays' notice thereof in the news- 
papers.'' This Regulation was again declared on November 12, 1787. 

No such procedure was taken for the alleged meeting of December 
15, 1905. 

If it is suggested that the old Regulation was abrogated by that 
of the Massachusetts State Society, which your Society was required 
to adopt as a condition precedent to revival and recognition by the 
General Society, then it is found that, under the Massachusetts Rule, 
a special or extra meeting could only be called " by publication of the 
time and place of such meeting in two newspapers for fourteen days 
before holding the same." 

As this was not done, it follows, under well-settled judicial de- 
cisions, that the extra or special meeting, so-called, of December 15, 
1905, was illegal, and all action taken by it, including adoption of 
so-called By-Laws, was coram noit judice. 

If it is suggested that your Society had no By-Laws after 1899, 
the answer is that your Society adopted the Massachusetts Rules before 
your Representation was admitted to the General Society with the 
limitation imposed by the General Society that they could not be 
altered nor amended by your Society until after May, 1899. 

No action was ever taken by your Society rescinding or altering 
them, and they were, therefore, according to recognized rules of inter- 
pretation, in force on December 15, 1905. 

If the Massachusetts Rules never were adopted by your Society, 
then the old Regulations would be in force until abrogated. 

From this statement, it follows that, as the meeting was not 
legally convened, it could do no lawful act. 

Another and still graver question arises, however, as to the legality 
of this meeting, even if it had been properly convened. 

It is stated in the documents referred to that there were " present 
twenty-five members in person and by proxy," and also that there were 
but thirteen members actually present. 

It is also known that voting on the several propositions submitted 
by the Treasurer of your Society was not always unanimous. 

At the meeting of the Virginia Society for organization at Fred- 
ericksburg, on October 9, 1783, 109 Veteran Original Members were 
present, and Regulations were adopted, of which the seventh was: 

"That no voters be admitted, in this State Society by 
proxy. 

18 



This was the largesl meeting ever held in Virginia, the total num- 
ber of Original Members having been about 265. At the meeting of 
the following year, L784, bul 57 were present. No meeting was held 
in 17S5 for want of a quorum. 

At the next meeting in 1786, 3 1 were present, and in 1787, 30 were 
present, and then the number in attendance at meetings subsequently 
held rapidly dwindled below this number. 

In 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797 and 1798 no meetings 
were held, and the one held in December, 1799, was only to pass resolu- 
tions on the decease of President General Washington. 

No meetings were held in 1801, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1809, 1811, 
1820, 1821. In 1812 there were only 13 members present, in 1813 
but 1(1 present, in 1814 but 9 present, in 1818 but 12 present, in 1819 
but 6 present, and at the last meeting of 1822 there were but 5 present. 

On Decembn- 14. L802, the Virginia Society decided to donate 
its Permanent Fund to the Washington Academy. 

At this meeting, for the firsl time since 17s7, there were 30 
Original Members present, and it was resolved thaf this appropriation 
should be subject 

" to confirmation by a majority of the whole members com- 
" posing tlic Society at the next General Meeting, in person 
"or by proxy, appointed in writing, or by letter to the 
"President." 

The objecl of this resolve of December 14, 1802, fur proxy voting 
had reference to a presumed property right; nevertheless, as no Origi- 
nal Member had a right to withdraw or dispose of his appropriation 
to the Permanent Fund, the resolve itself for such disposal was u&tra 
vires. 

When the next meeting of the Virginia Society was held, on De- 
cember 12. 1803, communications were read from several of the Origi- 
nal Members, who, as appears from tin 1 record, were "opposed to any 
appropriation of the funds other than that designed by the Constitution 
of the Society." 

Despite the fad thai many of the Original Veteran Members were 
thus opposed of record to this misuse and diversion of the Permanent 
Fund, and that the Institution prescribed that it "shall remain for 
ever to the use of the State Society," nevertheless, the meeting of the 
Virginia Society, "ii lie, •ember 1<i. 1807, voted that the whole of the 
Permanent Fund should be presented to Washington Academy. 

19 



The General Society, at the General Meeting held in Philadelphia, 
August 9, 1S11, characterized such a proceeding as " the inconsiderate 
act of a portion of the members in distributing those funds which had 
long ceased to be individual property, or liable to any but their original 
appropriation," and that " an act, such as this, most evidently involves 
a departure from the solemn engagement entered into on the banks of 
the Hudson, to perpetuate the Institution and to preserve, unalienated 
and unimpaired, those funds, which had been sacredly devoted to the 
relief of distressed members and their families." 

When your State Society was revived by the General Society, in 
the exercise of its implied powers, every member accepted by it was 
required, as a condition precedent to membership, to make good to the 
Permanent Fund of your 'Society a fixed commuted sum, representing 
his ancestor's original contribution unlawfully withdrawn. 

At the meeting of the Virginia Society, on December 7, 1812, a 
resolution was offered and rejected, rescinding former resolves as to the 
final distribution of the Permanent Fund. 

At the meeting of the Virginia Society, on December 14, 1813, 
it was resolved, " as the opinion of the meeting, that when any propo- 
sition is made that may regard the final appropriation of the funds 
of the Society, differing from the appropriation heretofore made, each 
member residing in the State lie notified thereof and be required to 
give a special vote by proxy, when he may be unable to attend in 
person." 

The object of the proxy, although illegal, was in reference to the 
assumed property right a member had in the Permanent Fund, although 
no such property right was vested in any member, but even on this 
assumption, members absent from the State were not, by the resolution, 
to be consulted. 

On December 14, 1818, the Virginia State Meeting, 12 being 
present, by resolution, declared that only a member could act as proxy, 
and on the next day resolved that, when the meeting should adjourn, 
each member present should sign the proceedings for himself and his 
proxies. 

In the whole of this business of voting by proxy in the Original 
Virginia Society the sole object was in reference to disposing of its 
Permanent Fund to purposes not sanctioned by the Institution, and 
this, in despite of your Society's Regulation of October 9, 1783, for- 
bidding proxy voting, and also in express opposition to the protests of 
members against such diversion. 

20 



The subject is one of too much importance to the well being of 
the whole Society not to be further considered. 

At common law, members could not vote by proxy in a member- 
ship corporation, because the voting privilege in such an association 
is of the nature of a personal trust committed to the discretion of 
every member as an individual and hence no1 susceptible to exercise 
through delegation. 

In stock corporations, the righl to vote by proxy is conferred 
directly by statute, and the general rule is that a person holding a 
proxy may do all that a stockholder may do in the matter, and, accord- 
ingly, may vote on all motions, including a motion to adjourn. 

The reason statute law authorizes the use of proxies in business 
and stock corporations is because the interests represented are wholly 
materral and concern only property rights in which any stockholder 
may have an attorney to represent him, and, therefore, unless restricted 
by law, any person of full age may be designated as a proxy, whether 
such proxy is or is no1 a member of the corporation. 

In the Society of the Cincinnati, which the Institution of 1783 
terms "one Society of Friends," the use of proxies is wholly unlawful: 

1st. Because the Institution prescribes that the State Society shall 
consist of its members — who shall meet on the 4th day of July, annu- 
ally, and oftener, it' they shall find it expedient. 

They are required, by the Institution, to subscribe to the same and 
to bind themselves " to observe and be governed by the Principles 
therein contained." 

Xo one else can lawfully participate in a " State Meeting," except 
the members who meet. 

Concede the right to proxy voting, and any one can be appointed 
a proxy, no matter how inimical he might be to the best interests of the 
Society or to some individual member, and the Society, because of his 
want of membership, would have no disciplinary control over him. 

2nd. Because the officers of a State Society are required by the 
Institution " to be chosen annually by a majority of vote- a1 the State 
Meeting " of th< members prest nt. 

3rd. Because every State Meeting is required by the Institution, 
annually, to write a circular letter " to the State Societies, noting what- 
ever they may think worthy of observation respecting the good of the 
Society, etc." 

21 



This is an act which requires the personal consideration of mem- 
bers who vote, and cannot be delegated to any one else. 

.'///i. Because every State Society is required by the Institution 
to " judge of the qualifications of the members who may be proposed." 

This is a personal trust which cannot, ex necessitate rei, be dele- 
gated to any one, because it requires the exercise of quasi judicial func- 
tions by a member in thus judging of qualifications upon which the 
welfare and prosperity of the Society vitally depends. 

The report of the Standing or Membership Committee to the Meet- 
ing of the State Society on the qualifications of the applicant and the 
proofs in support thereof, and as to his personal worthiness, must be 
heard and maturely considered before the individual member can 
" judge " thereon and understandingly cast his ballot. There can be 
no proxy voting where a member has to " judge " of qualifications. 

5th. Because every State Society is required by the Institution 
" to expel any member who, by a conduct inconsistent with a gentleman 
and a man of honor, or by an opposition to the interests of the com- 
munity in general, or to the Society in particular, may render himself 
unworthy to continue a member." 

This is a judicial function, on evidence adduced, and decision 
thereupon rendered after mature deliberation. 

Judicial authority thus vested in a member cannot be delegated, 
and, consequently, no outsider, nor even member, can lawfully vote 
for one or more absentees on a question which affects the honor, repu- 
tation and membership of a brother member in our " One Society of 
Friends." 

Under the Code of the State of Virginia, stockholders in banks 
and monied corporations are expressly authorized by law to vote by 
proxy, but in social, patriotic and other membership corporations, as 
distinguished from property corporations, no such authority is given, 
but, on the contrary, every qualified member is entitled by law " to one 
vote in the meeting." it being a personal trust, which cannot, without 
special legislation, be devolved on some one else. 

If reference is made to the Massachusetts State Society Rules, no 
proxy voting is authorized, nor indeed has proxy voting been attempted 
in any State Society of the Cincinnati, except in Virginia, and then 
for an illegal purpose or at an illegal meeting, and contrary to the gen- 
eral intendment of the Institution. 

For these cogent reasons, it follows that the so-called meeting of 

22 



the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, a1 Richmond, 
Va., "ii December L5, L905, at which were present in person only thir- 
teen members, with twelve absenl members represented by proxies, was, 
for thai reason itself, an illegal meeting, ami the adoption of By-Laws, 
by --ueli a vote, void. 

If a duly convened legal meeting of your Society should ratify 

mi- approve the pi :edings of the illegal meeting held December L5, 

L905, such ratification and approval would he ultra vires. 

The principle is settled by authoritative judicial decisions thai the 
proceedings of an illegal meeting cannol in any degree he rendered valid 
or effective h\ subsequenl ratification by a legal meeting. 

We, therefore, respectfully protest against any repetition of such 
regrettable proceedings a- being againsl " the general inti ndmenl of the 
( lincinnati." 

in. 

EAGLE OF THE ORDER. 

The Institution, as adopted May 10, 1 7s:;, prescribed a Medal for 
the ( >rder of the Society. 

Major General Baros de Sim b i \ accordingly wrote to Brevet 
Major l'li i.'i.'i Chakles I.'Kmavi', Continental Corps of Engineers, 
then in Philadelphia, to make a drawing of the medal so thai a die 
could be cut. 

Major I.'Kxfaxt replied, giving reasons why a medal was not, 
suitable, an. I suggested the American Bald Beaded Eagle for the Order 
ami the manner of wearing it. 

The Convention of General Officers and Representations from the 
several Continental Corps, General Staff and State Lines, was recon- 
vened .m dune l'.i. 1783, and the [nstitution altered accordingly, and pro- 
vision was also made for issuance of Diplomas, and Major L'Enfant 
was authorized to get a die for the Order cut in Paris. 
It was also resolved : 

" That tlie < >rder be of the same size and in every respecl 
"conformable to the -aid design, and he deposited i in the 

•' Archives of the Society, a- tl riginal from which all 

'' copies are t.> he mad.-." 

The original design, certified to by Baroh de Stei ben, was then 
deposited in the Archives of the Society, and has never been removed 
therefrom. 



Major L'Enfant did not have either a Bald American Eagle or 
a book like "Audubon on Birds " to copy his design from, and his 
drawing, therefore, being from memory, is neither artistic nor per- 
fectly true to nature. 

The die cut in Paris was even less accurate in delineation, but the 
Eagles then procured by the General Society for the members who 
sent their subscriptions to Major General Alexander MacDotjgall, 
Treasurer General, are highly prized by their hereditary representa- 
tives and would not be exchanged for new ones set in diamonds. 

The General Society, on May 17, 1784, thanked "Major 
L'Enfant for his great care and attention in the execution of tbe 
business of the Society which was committed to him and transacted in 
France, and, at the subsequent Triennial meeting of May 17, 1787, 
it was resolved that the Eagles or Orders of the Cincinnati, in the pos- 
session of Major L'Exfant. be taken on account of the General 
Society. 

It was also 

" Resolved, That the Assistant Secretary General do 
" dispose of the Eagles which may be received from Major 
" L'Enfant and account for the proceedings thereof to the 
" Secretary General." 

On May IS, 1787, the General Society assessed upon every State 
Society the proportionate amount it should pay to the Secretary Gen- 
eral toward the sum to be paid to Major L'Enfaxt. 

The State Society in Virginia, on November 12, 1787, in com- 
pliance with this requisition of the General Society, ordered its Treas- 
urer to transmit its quota. 

On November- 13, 1788, the State Society in Virginia adopted this 
resolve : 

'• Ir appearing to this Society thai a number of Eagles 
"are in possession of the General Society, the property of 
" the Society at large, 

" Resolved, That the Secretary of the General Society 
" be requested to transmit without delay the quota of the 
" Eagles belonging to the Society of this State to the Secre- 
"' tary thereof, to be subject to the future disposal of this 
" Society." 

Every State Society recognized by its action this inherent implied 
authority in the General Society to lay assessments, and it has done so 

24 



continuously to the present time. Every State Society bas also 
acknowledged the authority of the Convention, which altered the Insti- 
tution, on June 19, 1783, and " established *' the American I Said Eagle 
as the Order from the original design of Major [/Enfant instead of 
a medal, and which authorized him to have the die made in Paris. 

It was one die for the members of one " Society of Friends," nor 
did any one of the thirteen State Meetings, when composed of Original 
Members, ever suggest that it had a right to do as it pleased on so 
important a matter. 

The power exercised 1>,\ the General Society in this behalf since 
1783 was not an implied power but one delegated to it. 

President General Washington himself, and the General Society, 
and every State Society for li'-'l years has recognized (hat the Bald Eagle 
instead of a medal is the Order of the Society, and thai the Convention 
of June 19, L783, had a right, to alter the Institution accordingly. 

There were enough Eagles in custody of the Assistanl Secretary 
General to supply members until well into the nineteenth century. 

Meanwhile the French Revolution and blockade of the French 
Coast from 1792 to 1815, except for a few months in 1803, interrupted 
communicatioii between France and America, and during this period 
the original die of the Order was lost. 

But very few hereditary members were admitted during this time, 
and most of these had their father's Eagles. 

Until after the Restoration of 1815 in France, there was no regu- 
lar mail communication between France and the United States. 

In 1820, our own Society needed Eagles for newly admitted 
hereditary members, but the venerable General Officer more immedi 
ately charged with the matter was then in too infirm health to give it 
attention. 

The art of enamelling was not then known in this country, and 
our Society accordingly- had plain gold Eagles made in Philadelphia, 
some of which are worn to-day at our annual meeting by our hereditary 
memb >•-. 

Other State Societies, ex necessiiati rei, also had dies made, and 
thus arose a diversity as to the design of eagle and even as to color of 
ribbon, which became so noticeable that in the Triennial Meeting of 
Mav 9, 1890, the General Society resumed its jurisdiction of the sub- 
jest, and, by Ordinance, unanimously adopted, appointed a Foard of 
Genera] Officers to fix upon a die as a standard for the Eagle of (he 
Order. 

25 



It is to be remarked that all Military Societies have a standard die 
for their Orders, and in all Military Societies there is a controlling 
authority on this subject. 

The Board of General Officers had before it designs from the 
principal jewelers in the country who made Eagles for several of the 
State Societies, ami, after due deliberation, determined on a die sub- 
mitted by one of the greatest goldsmith establishments in the world, 
which is " conformable " to the certified design of Major L'Exi ant j 
and also gives an artistic delineation of the Bald American Eagle in 
every detail, even to the proportionate size of the wings. 

To do this, we are informed that the draughtsman, from whose 
drawing the die was cut, spent many hours in a public City park, 
closely observing live Bald American Eagles so as to make a correct 
drawing. 

At the Triennial Meeting of June L8, L902, the General Society 
unanimously, including your Treasurer as one of the Delegates from 
your Society, approved the report of the Board of General Officers, 
and provided, as in 1787, for the issxiance of Orders through a General 
Officer and at a stated price, and fur a record i" he kept of every issue. 

Your Treasurer, in the 4th or explanatory document above men- 
tioned, says that " Virginia does not accept the 1902 Eagle nor recog- 
nize the General Society's authority in the matter," and, in a preamble to 
certain resolves purporting to have been adopted on December 15, 1905, 
at the so-called meeting of your Society, it is declared that " any action 
by the General Society on the matters is limited to suggestions to the 
State Societies and can have no legal or binding effect whatever until 

ratified liv the several State Societies." 

We deplore such utterances, and hope they may not be repeated. 

The Genera] Society, having acted on a subject within its com- 
petency, ii is the duty of every member to respectfully recognize its 
action. 

The subject of an Order is one of general concern and not local, 
and members should be thankful that the General Society resumed its 
jurisdiction so as to restore uniformity. 

The standard die determined by the General Society, while it is 
" conformable " to the design of Major L'Enfaxt. is, at the same time, 
much more artistic and true to nature. 

However, as the decision of the General Society was conclusive, 
we trust thai the few members of your Society who participated in the 
meeting of December 15, 1905, and who owe their membership to the 

2(5 



inherenl powers of the Genera] Society exercised in their behalf, will 
graciously conform and be thankful that there is a General Society 
representing and acting for the one " Society of Friends " in those 
matters which are of general as distinguished from local concern. 

As illustrative of express delegated powers conferred on the Gen- 
eral Society, the same organic Convention of June 19, 1783, which 
established the Bald American Eagle as the Order of the Society 
instead of the medal — also directed thai a " Diploma on parchment; 
whereon shall be impressed the exact figures of the Order," and certi- 
fied li\ the President General, "be given to each and every member 
of the Society." 

Under this expressly delegated power, the General Society, on 
May 17, 1784, settled upon and approved a form of Diploma, and a 
Committee was appointed " to superintend the execution of engraving, 
on copper, the form agreed upon for a Diploma." 

The Diploma plate was duly engraved in that year in Paris, by 
the great French hank note engraver, J. J. leVeat. and is in the cus- 
tody of the Genera] Society, as required l>\ an order of the General 
Society of date May 17, 1784. 

'liaise Diplomas, struck from this plate, for Original, Eereditary 
and Eonorary Members, and certified by His Excellency, I 'resident 
Genera] Washington and Secretary General, the Honorable Major 
Genera] Henry Knox, are deemed priceless heirlooms by their de- 
scendants. 

At the Triennial Meeting of the General Society, held in Balti- 
more, M.&.. May 9, 1890, an ordinance was unanimously adopted, under 
this delegated power, as to Diplomas, regulating the method of issu 
ance and cosl thereof, so that any member can receive a Diploma, as 
provided in the Institution. 

IV. 

RULE OF 1854. 

Four Treasurer, in referring to certain resolves of the General 
Society of the Cincinnati adopted in 1854, known as the " Kule of 

1854," whicb were promulgated in L856 as a rule of ( 3truction, has 

termed it, " an illegal rule " and " in direct conflict with the admission 

rules laid down by the Institution," and as " a violation of th 'ganic 

law of the Order." 

'27 



These erroneous criticisms have arisen from lack of information 
as to the reason for, as well as the object and scope of, the Rule as 
finally settled upon. 

In every of the older State Societies in continuous existence since 
1783, as well as in the General Society in its action in reviving extinct 
State Societies, the Rule, despite certain generic expressions, has re- 
ceived an arbitrary and definite interpretation entirely in consonance 
with the limitations of the Institution and in harmony with the intent 
of the parties, nor has the General Society nor any of the older con- 
tinuous State Societies ever consciously attempted to give it a broader 
scope. 

It is a principle of law that, in interpreting and construing a Rule 
of action, the preliminary negotiations, if any, and surrounding cir- 
cumstances, may be considered, and such a construction given as will 
render it reasonable and for a legal rather than an illegal purpose. 

The construction also which the parties have, by their acts, placed 
on an ambiguous instrument, if uniform, unquestioned and fully con- 
curred in by all, is of controlling authority, provided such construction 
is not inhibited by an organic law. 

It is to be further remarked in this connection that, on general 
principles, greater regard should be paid to the clear intent of the 
parties than to any particular words which they may have used in the 
expression of their intent, because parties have the power to innovate 
upon the meaning of words. 

The history of the Rule of 1854 is pertinent to a knowledge of its 
scope. 

The venerable President General, 1 'revet ..Major William .Fop- 
ham, last General Officer from the Continental Line of the Revolution, 
died in September. 1847. 

On November 29, 1848, the General Society met in Philadelphia, 
and on the next day Brigadier General Henry Alexander Scammell 
Dearborn j who was chosen President General to succeed him, called 
attention to the necessity of some amendment to the rules of admission, 
expressing the belief 

" that unless such a measure is adopted, all the Societies 
" must, within a few years, be extinguished by a law of 
" nature that is making such fearful ravages in an Institution 
" which the existing members cannot but be anxious should 
" be perpetuated from the profound respect they entertain for 

28 



" its patriotic and gallant founders, and the great benefit which 
" lias resulted from the charitable object of its establishment." 

General Deaebokn added that 

'" unless such a method is adopted, this time-honored and glori- 
" ous Association will cease to exist within less than- the third 
" of a century, or be so reduced in numbers as to be unavailable 
" for the purposes of its organization." 

At that time there were surviving less than a dozen venerable Orig- 
inal Members, while there were fewer hereditary members of the Order 
than at any time before in a quarter of a century or since in its history. 

A Committee was appointed to take the matter into consideration 
and report at the next General Meeting. 

This Committee brought in a long report at the Triennial General 
Meeting, held in The City of Xew York, May 7, 1851, and submitted 
therewith as an alteration of the Institution, "An Ordinance relative to 
the succession and admission of members," by which, among other prop- 
ositions, all male descendants of any officer of the Revolution could be 
admitted on terms, and also providing that the General Society should 
have power to admit honorary members at its discretion. 

I'll' 1 prcmosed alteration, however, failed of ratification. 

The Institution of 17S3 apparently confines membership to Com- 
missioned Officers of the American Army, who served in time and man- 
ner stated and signed the roll within six months after the Army w is 
disbanded, " extraordinary cases excepted," and to officers of certain 
grades in the French Army and Navy who served in America during the 
War of the Revolution and to the proper descendants or representatives 
of both classes. 

Nevertheless, the General Society, in the exercise of its implied 
powers, in 1784 and 1787, by resolves, interpreted and construed the 
Institution as including Continental Navy and .Minim' officers, and 
State troops who had been in Continental service and pay for not 
than three years. 

It, however, still remained undetermined whether or not the proper 
descendants or representatives of Continental officers of the Revolution 
who, by their services to their country, were qualified for original mem- 
bership hut. had not siatied the Institution, could be admitted, in their 
right, to hereditary membership. 

Prior to the adoption of the Institution in' May. 1783, more thai] 
two-thirds of the Continental officers, qualified for original member- 



2fl 



ship, had gone to their homes in consequence of expiration of terms of 
service of the enlisted men of their respective regiments or by reason 
of one or other of the several reductions of the Continental Army which 
rendered them supernumerary. 

They had been promised by Congress half -pay for life but did 
not get it, and many arrived at home with nothing to show for long, 
faithful and gallant service but their faded uniforms and war-worn 
swords. 

Some of them died before the Institution was formed, and others 
died within a few months afterward. 

Congress gave to the Continental officers bounty lands in the Ter- 
ritory Northwest of the Ohio, and, as most of the surviving officers of 
the Revolution were ruined in fortune from the expenditures they had 
been forced to make in order to keep in service in consequence of their 
Continental pay being worthless, they were under the lamentable neces- 
Mtv of emigrating to that then distant territory and put to the hard task 
of clearing the land of its forests while fighting the Miami Indians and 
enduring a precarious existence devoid of all comforts and luxuries. 

Hard money was not then in circulation away from the seaboard 
towns and bills of exchange were not to be had. As a consequence, the 
Continental officers, thus residing in the West, were never able to con- 
tribute the required month's pay to the Permanent Fund, nor could 
they, by reason of their distance and the difficulty and time required 
in travel, attend a State Meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati to 
sign the Institution. 

At the Triennial Meeting of the General Society, held in Balti- 
more May 18, 1854, the following resolutions respecting the succession 
and admission of members were unanimously adopted : 

1. " Resolved, That, each State Society shall have the 
" full right and power to regulate the admission of members, 
" both as to qualifications of members and the terms of admis- 
" sion. Provided, That admission be confined to the male 
" descendants of original members (including collateral 
"branches as contemplated by the original Constitution), or 
" to the male descendants of such officers of the Army and 
" Navy as may have been entitled to admission, but who failed 
"to avail themselves thereof within the time limited by the 
" Constitution ; or to the male descendants of such officers of 
" the Army and Navy of the Revolution as may have resigned 
" with honor, or left the service with reputation, or to the 

30 



" male collateral relative of any officer who died in service 
" without leaving issue." 

2. " Resolved, That the male descendants of those who 
" were members of State Societies which have been dis- 
solved, may be admitted into existing State Societies upon 
"such terms as those Societies may think proper and pre- 
scribe." 

.",. - Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be pro- 
posed to the several State Societies and their assent be re- 
" quested thereto; and upon such assent being given by each 
■■ of the remaining Societies, the Secretary General shall issue 
■• notice thereof to each Society, and tin reupon the said reso- 
" lutions shall become operative, and each State Society shall 
" be <il liberty to act upon the power given thereby." 
The effect of such Rule, in its broadesl sense, would have been to 
abrogate the limitations on qualifications for original membership 
which the officers, in Cantonments near Newburgh, deliberately inserted 
in the Institution on .May 10, 1783, in lieu of Major General Hekev 
Knox's "Proposals" on thai subject, to permil all Revolutionary 
officers to become members, irrespective of length of service. 

The resolutions having, however, failed of ratification, the General 
Society met in Special Genera] Meeting at Trenton, X. J., on May '2:-', 
L856, but without any representation present from our own Society oi 
from the New York State Society. 

It was then recognized that the < >rder was opposed to any alteration 
of ill, Institution which would render eligible to hereditary member- 
ship the proper descendant of every officer of the Armj and Navy of the 
War of the Revolution for American Independence, irrespective of 
length of service. 

The conduct of the Continental Congress toward the American 
officers in 1783, and for many year-, afterward, made it necessary to 
interpret that clause of the Institution which, while inhibiting officers 
from becoming parties thereto of their own motion after six months 
from the disbandment of the Army, nevertheless qualified such inhibi- 
lion bj the phrase " extraordinary cases excepted." 

W'hal conditions were essential to constitute an "extraordinary 
case" and did the right to membership descend, within the 3Cope and 
intent of the Institution, to the proper representative of a qualified Con- 
tinental officer who never had been able to join at all during his life- 
time? 

31 



So far as the Continental officers themselves were concerned, who 
were qualified but who were at first prevented from joining by reason 
of emigration to the Territory Northwest of the Ohio, or poverty result- 
ing from their personal sacrifices during the War of the Revolution and 
failure of the Continental Congress to keep plighted faith with them, 
every one of the continuous State Societies had recognized such claims 
to membership as " extraordinary cases " and admitted such of them as 
asked for membership even forty years after the peace of 1783. 

Still another condition presented itself. 

Six State Societies had become extinct, having no surviving 
members. 

This had not been contemplated by the Founders, who had declared 
1 1 Kit the Institution should ''endure as long as they should endure, or 
any of their eldest male posterity, and, in failure thereof, the collateral 
branches who may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and 
members," and had also declared " Esto perpetua" as the motto of the 
Institution. 

The question therefore also arose for determination by the General 
Society whether, within the scope and intent of the Institution, the 
proper descendant of a propositus who had been a Veteran Original 
member in a State Society which had become extinct could be admitted 
to hereditary membership in an existing State Society, and if so, 
whether pecuniary terms of admission could be imposed greater than 
the original month's pay ami in commutation thereof for the lapsed 
period. 

Still another question also arose concerning Continental officers who 
had died in the service of their country. 

The Institution gave a claim of hereditary membership to "their 
eldest male branches," but this indefinite phrase had never been con 
-trued so as to determine whether it was limited to direct descendants 
or whether it was intended to include, as in other cases, "collateral 
branches who may be judged worthy." 

Nearly all the officers who had been killed or had otherwise died 
in service had been young men who had left no surviving issue, a fact 
well known to the Founders. 

It was reasonable to suppose, therefore, as to such officers, that 
it was intended that their blood and services to their country should 
not be forgotten, and the General Society was consequently called upon 
to determine the scope and intent of the Institution on the subject. 

Although not. drawn with legal precision, nevertheless the Resolves 

32 



of 1854, taken in connection, with the specific limitations of the Lnstitu- 
tion itself, did furnish reasonable rules of interpretation on these sub- 
jects. 

Accordingly, the General Society at this Special General Meeting 
of May 22, 1856, 

" Resolved, That the resolution adopted at the Last Tri- 
" ennial Meeting requiring the assent of the several State 
"' Societies to the resolutions in relation to the admission of 
"' members, as the condition on which the said resolutions 
" shall become operative, be, and the same is, hereby repealed." 
Thereupon the Resolves of 185 I, constituting the " Eule of 185-1," 
became merely resolves of interpretation and construction of the Insti- 
tution, limited and controlled by the language of that instrument, and 
not in derogation thereof. 

These Resolves of 1854 began by declaring that " each State Society 
shall have the full right and power to regulate the admission of mem- 
bers both as to the qualifications <>i members and the terms of admis- 
sion," as contemplated by the original Institution. 

This was practically the language of that instrument, except that 
it was subject to the limitation found therein that all acts of a Stale 
Society under this delegated power must be consistent with the maxims 
of the < 'incinnati, viz: 

" The State : will regulate everything respecting 

'• itself consistent with tfa g< ru ral maxims of the Cincinnati 

" and judge of tin' qualifications of the members who may be 

" proposed." 

Under the Eule of L854, as if" 1 resolves are designated, the Geu- 

eral Society construed and interpreted the Institution as follows: 

First — That the proper male descendants or male collateral rela- 
tives repn sentative of such Continental officers of the Army and Navy 
of the War "f the Revolution as may have been entitled to admission 
by reason of having been rendered supernumerary, or by reason of 
having resigned with honor after no! I.-- than three years' service or 
by reason of having left the service with reputation after not less than 
three years' service, hut who did aol become members, are eligible to 
hereditary membership. 

Second Thai the p] >r, in failure of direel 

issue, the proper male collateral relative- representative of such officers 
of the Army and Navy of the War of the Revolution as served with 

33 



reputation for not less than three years in State Troops in Continental 
service, and who thereafter resigned with honor or were honorably dis- 
charged, but were not able to become members, arc also eligible to heredi- 
tary membership. 

Third — That the proper male collateral relatives representative of 
such officers of the Army and Navy of the War of the Revolution as 
died iu service during thai War, are also eligible to hereditary member- 
ship when there shall be no longer direct issue. 

Fourth — That the proper male descendants or male collateral rela- 
tives representative of Original Members in extincl State Societies are 
also eligible to hereditary membership in existing Stale. Societies. 

Fifth — That whenever the proper male descendants or, in failure 
of direct issue, the proper male collateral relatives representative of 
Original Members in extinct State Societies, shall apply to existing 
State Societies for hereditary membership, the State Society to which 
any such claim shall be made may prescribe such terms as to contribution 
to the Permanent Fund as it may think proper, subject to the limitation 
of the Institution. 

These Eesolves of interpretation and construction, entitled the Rule 
of 1854, have been authoritatively acted upon by the General Society 
in the revival of extinct State Societies, when judging of the qualifica- 
tions for membership, as in harmony with the scope and intent of the 
Institution and limited by it. 

All the continuously existing State Societies and all the revived 
State Societies, including your Society, have recognized and acted 
under this Rule in the admission of hereditary members whose claim- 
were comprehended under such Rule. 

Those heretofore admitted under it have had the particular regard 
of their fellow members and proven equally loyal supporters of the 
great Principles of the Institution. 

By the revival by the General Society of all former extinct State 
Societies the Fourth and Fifth provisions of the Rule have become 
inoperative. 

The Rule of 1854, as promulgated by the General Society, being, 
therefore, neither " illegal " nor " in direct conflict with the admission 
rules laid down by the Institution," as announced by the so-called 
meeting of thirteen members of your Society on December 15, 1905, 
nor a "violation of the organic law of the Order," nor "illegal," nor 
an "assumed power and authority," as declared by your Treasurer, 
continues, after upward of half a century, to constitute an authorita- 

34 



- 



tivc rule of action under the Destitution which cannot be altered except 
Iiv unanimous consent. 



CONTRIBUTION TO PERMANENT FUND UNDER RULE OF 1854. 

This is wholly a mailer of State Society cognizance, provided the 
requiremenl of the Institution is complied with as to month's pay of 
grade. 

The General Society, in reviving extinct State Societies, inter- 
preted the Institution as authorizing a greater sum than a month's pay 
to be required from an hereditary member mi admission whose ancestor 
had never been a member or whose month's pay had been withdrawn 
from the Permanent Fund, such contribution to be equably ascertainable 
from that month's pay at interest l<> 'lair of admission. 

Every State Society, under the delegated power to regulate every- 
thing respecting itself, bases the required contribution on admission 
under the Rule of 1854, to a greater or less degree, on the beneficial 
interest thus acquired in the Permanent Fund by the newly admitted 
member. 

As even/ State Society, as well as the General Society, have acted 
upon this interpretation of the Institution, no necessity is perceived, 
under thi circumstances, for altering that Instrnmeuj on this subject. 



VI. 
MEMBERS RESIDING IN DIFFERENT STATES. 

four Treasurer, who resides in the City and Stair of New York 
and is an hereditary member in the State of Virginia, is troubled be- 
cause this condition appears, in his view, repugnant to the language ol 
the Institution which, if construed according to its text, would make 
him, in a local sense, a mend. it of the New York State Society for State 
Sociei\ purposes, and the so-called meeting of December 15, L905, ex- 
pressed the same thought. 

1 1 must ii"i he overlooked thai laws are frequently construed by 
ihe courts i" mean quite differently from the context. A pertinent illus- 
tration of this is the expression in the Constitution of the United States, 
"natural born citizen," which Congress, in the Revised Statutes, has 
construed to include children born nut, id' the limit- or jurisdiction of 
die United States, whose fathers at the tin f their birth are citii 

35 



thereof, and the courts have accepted this statute as a correct interpre- 
tation. 

The General Society and State Societies have always inter- 
preted the clause of the Institution as to residence as referring to the 
Founders of the Society, and that while hereditary and honorary mem- 
bers are all members of one Society of Friends, yet, for local State 
Society purposes, they are members of their respective State Socie- 
ties and required to meet therein on July 4th in every year. 

The Institution recognizes membership in but one State Society at 
a time. 

The Society has gotten along very happily under this rule of inter- 
pretation ever since hereditary members were admitted, and its wisdom 
has been exemplified. Your own State Society, when controlled by 
Original members, would not admit an Original member from another 
State Society who had become resident in Virginia, except by formal 
resolve, no matter how long his residence. 

In the By-Laws submitted by your Treasurer for your Society, 
adopted at the so-called meeting of thirteen of your members on Decem- 
ber 15, 1905, the interpretation here given is recognized in a clause that 
"any member of the Society of the Cincinnati from another State Society 
not acting with the same, removing to and residing within the State of 
Virginia, may be admitted to membership in this State Society, on 
application and election, as provided in these By-Laws, and on pay- 
ment into the Treasury for the Permanent Fund of such assessment as 
the Society or the Standi ny Committee may determine, but such sum 
shall not be less than $150, and, provided, his own State Society is first 
notified in writing of the intended transfer and no reasonable objection 
is made thereto." 

Under this so-called By-Law the application or request for trans- 
fer to another State Society is recognized, as contemplated in the Insti- 
tution, to be wholly a personal act which does not require any consent 
of the State Society wherein the hereditary member may at the time lie 
enrolled, but for mere courtesy's sake, although not required by the 
Institution, the so-called By-Law provides that that Society shall be 
" notified of the intended transfer." According to this proposed By- 
Law, your State Society, however, to which the member may apply for 
transfer, alone passes upon the question whether " reasonable objection " 
has been submitted bvthc State Society wherein, at the time, the applicant 
may be enrolled, and if it determines that the objection is not reason- 
able and admits the member, the transfer becomes eo instanti effective 

36 



and complete, and the other State Society cannot prevent it as the 
application for the transfer is a personal one and requires no consent. 

Under the Enstitution no person can be a member in more than one 
State Society a1 a time because the imposed duties are incompatible 
with any dual membership. 

Tims, an Original member removing from one State to another 
was to be considered, in all respects, as Ixdonging to the Society of the 
State in which he should actually reside. His transfer was strictly a 
personal act and of his own volition in removing to another State and 
was not dependent in any way, directly or indirectly, on the consent of 
the State Society in the State from whence he chose to remove. The 
Secretary of such State Society accordingly, on notification from the 
Secretary General, dropped the member's name from the roll of such 
Society "by transfer," an official net which required no prior author- 
ization from such State Society. 

This has always been the Rule, recognized as well by your Society, 
that when a member transfers from one State Society to another, (7 is 
his personal act and requires im consent by or action of the State Society 
from whence he transfers. 

VII. 

CIRCULAR LETTERS. 

The Institution prescribes that "each State Meeting shall write 
annually or oftener, if necessary, a Circular Letter to the State Socie- 
ties, noting whatever they may think worthy of observation respecting 

the good of the Society." 

Slate Meetings have not found it necessary to write Circular Let- 
ters every year because thej have had nothing to suggest respecting the 
good of the Society. 

They do, bowever, transmil annually to every other State Society 
and to the General Society lists of their respective officers and members 
as required by the General Society since 1787. # 

Whenever ■■< State Society has found it necessary to write a Cir- 
cular Letter, the [institution has authorized it in the above-quoted per- 
missive and directory but not mandatory clause, and it is pertinent to 
notice thai the qualifying word "necessary" was not found in Major 
Genera] IIknky ElTOx's '' Proposals," but deliberately inserted by the 
Convention of Officers which framed the Institution. 

37 



Whether Circular Letters shall be written or not is wholly a matter 
of State Society cognizance. 

The directory character of the clause under consideration has ap- 
parently not been understood by your Treasurer although such has been 
its construction since 1783. 

His suggestion, therefore, to alter the Institution in a matter thus 
requiring no alteration presents nothing for favorable consideration. 

VIII. 
CIRCULAR LETTERS READ IN GENERAL SOCIETY. 

The Institution is perfectly clear on this subject and requires no 
amendment. 

When there are Circular Letters, they arc either submitted in print, 
which avoids necessity of public reading, or are read. 

If your Treasurer, as a Delegate from your Society, has known of 
a Circular Letter which was not submitted to the General Society and iie 
did not call for it, he would be properly chargeable with inattention to 
his duties as a Delegate. 

IX. 

EXPENSES OF DELEGATES. 

The Institution prescribes that the expenses of every authorized 
Representation from every State Society to the General Society " shall 
be borne by their respective State Societies." 

Your Treasurer, apparently not aware that this is a directory pro- 
vision instead of mandatory and intended to relieve the General Society 
from any such expenditure, iusisls that because several of the State 
Societies do not pay such expenses, the Institution should be altered 
to make discretionary a matter which is now and has been discretionary 
since 1783. 

One object of the clause was to sanction such expenditure even 
if it trenched upon the Permanent Fund, in case enough interest thereon 
was not available. 

It is a matter wholly of State Society concern. 

In our Society, in order to aid our Permanent Fund, our Delegates 
lo the General Society have for many years cheerfully paid their own 
expenses, and we fail to sec wherein such procedure can properly be 
considered by your Treasurer. 

38 



AMNUAL flEETINGS. 

Your Treasurer asserts that one or more State Societies do not 
meet on the Fourth day of July in every year, as specially required by 
the [nstitution. 

This would be within the cognizance of tin- General Society ti> 
concert such, measures, under its delegated power, as may conduce I ■ 
the general intendmenl of the Society and, if necessary, require the 
particular laws of the State Society on this subject to be consistent with 
the general maxims of the Cincinnati in such behalf. 

The partial information we have on this subject is that one or more 
of the revived Slate Societies may have, for local reasons, not fully 
complied with this imperative provision of the Institution. 

We trust, however, that if such be the ease. Independence Day will 
hereafter be celebrated by everj State Society as our ancestors intended 
it should lie. ami as a lesson to the rising generation and to the millionsof 
foreigners coming to our land, who knovi nothing of the struggles, priva- 
tions and sacrifices of our Ancestors and their Compatriots which, after 
i ighl years of war, in which many gave up their lives or suffered from 
wounds until their decease, gave us the immeasurable blessings of the 
Constitutional liberty we now enjoy. 

On this subjecl of Annual meet ings it is proper to notice that, from 
the first meeting of the officers of the Virginia Line on Continental 
Establishment at Fredericksburg, Va., on October 6, 1783, to subscribe 
to the Institution and become members and then form the Society of 
the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia as required by the Institution, 
until the last meeting before prearranged dissolution, held at Rich- 
mond, \ r a., on December 22, 1822, when but five members were p] 
ent- no meeting whatsoever was ever held on the Fourth day of July in 
any ; 

In our own Society we have, for a number of years, as settled cus- 
tom, held, after our Annual meetings, public Commemorative meetings 
on that day. at which addresse have been delivered by representative 
citizens and other exercises held, followed by a banquet, with invited 
guests and patriotic toasts, with a view to celebrate Independence 
our Ancestors desired and as it was celebrated in the early days of the 
Republic. 



39 



XI. 

TRIENNIAL HEET1NGS OF UENERAL SOCIETY. 

Your Treasurer says that " the Institution requires tlie General 
Society to meet on the first Monday in May." 

From lack of information of the rules of interpretation, which 
have become settled in this behalf, this error has arisen. 

The Institution provides that, beginning wiih the first Monday in 
May, 1784, the General Society should meet "on the first Monday in 
May, annually, so long as they should deem it necessary, and afterward 
at least once in every three //ears. 

No date was fixed for the meeting of the General Society after 
annual meetings should be discontinued. 

It was required, however, to meet at least once in every three 
years. 

This has been the controlling interpretation of the General Society, 
and there is nothing on this subject which requires amendment. 



XII. 
SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THREE. 

The suggestion of your Treasurer for a Special Committee of 
Three from every State Society, excluding General Officers, and to be 
called together by him " to concert measures for the good of the So- 
ciety," we view as wholly incompatible with the Institution, which 
nowhere sanctions such a revolutionary procedure. 

Accompanied as it is by the unusual declaration that " any action 
by the General Society is limited solely to suggestions to the State 
Societies and can have no legal or binding effect whatever until ratified 
In/ the several State Societies " and that the General Society is merely 
" an advisory conference hut having no means of imposing its authority 
upon the Slate Society meetings." and that " Virginia does not, as to the 
Eagle, recognize the General Society's authority in the matter," and 
that "the General Society is only a shadow without a substance/' we 
regret that a member who owes his membership to the authority of the 
General Society should in this one Society of Friends use language 
having a tendency to impair recognition of due authority and that good 
feeling which has characterized it since 17s:j and made its membership 

40 



so delightful and harmonious and its friendships so very close and en- 



during'. 



Nor can we approve any suggestion claiming to be for the ''good 
of the Society" which undertakes to prevent any State Society from 
selecting any member for any duty because he chances to be a General 
officer, or which would render ineligible any General officer to partici- 
pate in any authorized meeting "for the good of the Society." 

The suggestion for a Committee of Three being opposed to the 
general intendmenl of the [nstitution does not receive our approval. 

XIII. 
HOLDING TWO OFFICES. 

In one of his proposed By-Laws submitted by your Treasurer for 
adoption at the so-called meeting of December 15, 1005, is a clause in 
which, after naming State Society officers, it is provided that "each office 
shall be held by a separate member of the Society and no two of the 
above shall ever be held by one member." 

This is followed by a drastic provision, namely, that the State 
Society offices and positions as delegates and alternates to the General 
Societv. " and member of the General Society Committee on Nomina- 
tions of <; moral Officers shall not be filled by members of the Society 
irim moi/ oi the time be General officers of the General Society of the 
Cincinnati." 

Your Treasurer excuses this departure, in this latter provision, 
from the long-settled policy of the Cincinnati by urging that in the 
Regulations adopted by the Virginia Original members on October 9, 
1783, it was declared that " no person in this Society shall hold two 
commissions at the same time." 

He could not, however, but know that this Virginia Regulation of 
1783 only had reference to State officers and never did apply, and never 

intended to apply, to General officer-. 

This was early exemplified in the Virginia State Society, when 
Major General Horatio Gates, LL.D., was, on October 9, 1783, 
elected President by the Virginia Original members, and was, while 
holding such office, elected Vice-President General on May 15, 1784, 
and was, on October 5, 1784, re-elected by the Virginia Original mem- 
bers and continued as President of the Virginia State Society. 

Some further early examples where officers of State Societies were 
also General officers and executed both functions at the same time will 

41 



illustrate the long-settled policy of the Cincinnati from which the 
proposed By-Law is a radical departure and, in our judgment, not for 

the good of the Society. 

Major General Hexky Knox, A.M., became Vice-President of the 
Massachusetts State Society in June 1783, and Secretary General in 
the same month. 

Subsequently, the Hon. Chables Stewakt Davies, LL.D., be- 
came President of that State Society in 1853 and Vice-President Gen- 
eral in 1854. 

Still later, the lion. James Warrex* Sever. A.M., became Vice- 
President of that State Society in 1865 and President thereof in 1866, 
and Vice-President General in the same year. 

Major General Alexander McDouuall became President of the 
New York State Society in June, 1783, and Treasurer General in the 
same month. 

Major General Thomas Mifflin, A.M., who was President of 
the Continental Congress when His Excellency, General Washington, 
resigned his commission as General and Commander-in-Chief, became 
Vice-President General in 1787 and President of the Pennsylvania 
State Society in 1789, and exercised both functions until his decease 
ten years later. 

Prigadier General Otho Holland Williams, when Secretary of 
the Maryland State Society, became Assistant Secretary General 
in 1784. 

Major General Charles Cotesworth Pixckxey, LL.D., when 
Vice-President of the South Carolina State Society, became successively 
Vice-President General in 1800 and President General in 1805. 

Major General Thomas Pixckxey, A.M., when President of the 
South Carolina State Society, became President General in 1825. 

Major General Aaron Ogdex, LL.D., when President of the New 
Jersey State Soeiety, became President General in 1829. 

The Hon. Hamiltox Fish. LL.D., when Treasurer of the New 
York State Society, became Vice-President General in 1S48 and Presi- 
dent General in 1854, and, in the following year, became President of 
his State Society and exercised,' as customary, both functions for many 
years, until his decease in 1893. 

The Hon. William Wayne, A.M., when President of the Penn- 
sylvania State Society, became President General in 1896 and exer- 
cised both functions until his decease in 1901. 

Almost all the General Officers since 1783 have, at the same time, 

42 



been officers in their respective State Societies, and at the Triennial 
General Meeting in 1905, every General officer was President of a 
State Society. 

This proposed By-Law, that the State Society offices and positions 
as Delegates and Alternates to the General Society, " and member of the 
General Society Committee on Nominations of General Officers sliall 
no/ In filled by members of the Society who may at the lime be General 
officers of th General Society of llf Cincinnati" is, in other particu- 
lars, also a departure from the long-settled policy of the Cincinnati. 

Time and again General officers have represented their respective 
State Societies in General Meeting. 

In .May, 1784, at the First Genera] Meeting, Major General 
Henry Knox, Secretary General, was a Delegate from the Massachu- 
setts State Society, and acted as such. 

It is wholly competent for a State Society to designate, if it may 
so desire, as a Delegate, any member who may be a General officer. 

It is proper here to remark that General officers are Gem nil 
Officers of the Society of the Cincinnati, and they sit in General meet- 
ing as componenl parts thereof, by reason of being General officers of 
the one Society of Friends. 

It is. therefore, incorrect to designate them as General officers of 
the General Society, their duties having relation to the whole Society. 

The provision in the proposed By-Law that any member of your 
Society who may be a General officer shall not be eligible to member- 
ship of the " General Society Committee on Nomination of General 
Officers " is wholly without, the competency of your Society, or our 
own. or any other State Society, to enact. 

The General Society has but seldom had Committees on Nomina- 
tion of General Officers, but' when it does decide to have a committee 
for any purpose, it selects its own committee, and no State Society has 
anything to do with it. 

Furthermore, from the very beginning, by resolution of May 7, 
1784, the President General has always been, e.v-officio, a member of 
every committee, thus giving representation to General officers as well 
as to representations from State Societies. 

In a foot note to this proposed By-Law of exclusion and restriction, 
your Treasun r says it is 

" made with the view of stimulating and promoting the in- 
" terest of the members of the Virginia Cincinnati in the 
"Cincinnati Society generally, and to obviate the necessity 

43 



" and practice of one member of the Society holding several 
" important offices therein at any one time and to encourage 
" and facilitate the distribution of offices among the Virginia 
" members of the Cincinnati Society." 

Before discussing this note, we must dissent to the expression 
" Cincinnati Society " as applied to the Society of the Cincinnati. 

In the Queen City of Ohio, named in 1790 by Major General 
Abthub St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, and Presi- 
dent of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, in honor of 
the Society of the Cincinnati, there are a number of Cincinnati Socie- 
ties, but no Society of the Cincinnati. 

The above-quoted foot note as to distribution of offices is based on 
a theory, wholly foreign to the Society of the Cincinnati, that office 
is an object to be sought. 

It is the glory of our one Society of Friends that whatever honor 
may attach to connection with it is in being a member, the officers ever 
having been deemed merely the agents of the Society. 

Hence, almost invariably, a member, upon becoming an officer, 
has been, and is continued as such, from year to year, as a matter of 
course. 

Seeking an office by any method is wholly foreign to the Society 
of the Cincinnati and we should regret if any State Society should 
depart from settled policy in order to hold before its members the idea 
that the honor is in an office instead of membership, in order to 
" stimulate and promote interest." 

XIV. 

THE STANDING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

Tour Treasurer seems disturbed over the existence of the Standing 
Executive Committee, which he intimates 

" has assumed powers and authority which it does not possess 
" under the Institution, and attempted to do things which 
" can be done legally only by concurrent action of the State 
" Societies." 
To this broad declaration, but without illustration of any assumed 
violation of the Institution, he adds: 

" The State Societies do not recognize such assumed 
" authority under the laws of the Institution." 

44 



in thus speaking for us, it was without authority. 
The Standing Executive Committee has proven to be a wise and 
valuable instrument for the good of the Society. 

it had its origin in the Committee on "Rules and Ordinances," 
of one member from every State Society, with the President General,' 
ex-officio, constituted by resolve of the General Societv on May 
12. 1ST.-.. 

At the Genera] Meeting of April 14, 1881, it was resolved that the 
members of this Committee, other than the President General, "be 
chosen at the meetings of the State Societies en the -1th of July, the 
one chosen, if unable to attend, to have the right, with the al of 

the Society, to appoint a substitute. 

1 ! ertain duties were imposed on the Committee, viz: 

•' To revise and modify the old, and present any new, 

■' rules and ordinances that they may think best, with a view 

" to make them a consistent and barmonious whole, that -hall 

wrr, as far a- practicable, a greater uniformity in the 

"action of the General and of the State Societies, that the 

" whole Order may he henceforth conducted faithfully on 

'• ih" ide;^ ami principles of the original Institution, and the 

"said Committee he al-.. instructed to consider and report 

'• whether, upon the original ideas and principles upon which 

of the Cincinnati was established, it is practi- 

.r any State Society that has deliberately committed 

"suicide and voted to dissolve, disband and divide their 

"funds, .-an be revived and re-established, and, if thej deem 

practicable, then to consider and report further how 

" this can be done, i. < .. upon what term- on the pari of the 

"General Society, by what action, rules and proceedings on 

those who would have a claim to become mera- 

" bers of this defunct State Society were it still in existence, 

••and that this said Committee be instructed to report at the 

"next Genera] Meeting of the Society.'' 

At the Triennial Meeting of the Genera] Society, held in Prince- 
ton. .V. J., May I.". 1884, the Committee on Rules and Ordinances 
was continued by specially referring to it business for consideration 
and report. 

At the Triennial Meeting of the Genera] Society, held in Newport, 

R. I, July 28, 1887, it was Voted " thai such Committee I* ntinued 

until fnrth r order." 

45 



This Committee, as constituted, not being sufficiently representa- 
tive and authoritative, an Ordinance was introduced by unanimous 
consent at the Triennial Meeting of the General Society held in Balti- 
more, May 9, 1890, constituting a Standing Executive Committee, 
which Ordinance was unanimously adopted, and is as follows, viz: 

Ordinance. 

" Be it ordained by the General Society of the Cincinr 
" nati. That the members of the Committee on Rules and 
" Ordinances shall constitute a Standing Committee, to con- 
" sist of one delegate from every State Society, especially 
" appointed by such State Society, together with the Presi- 
" dent General e.v-ofp,cio. The Standing Committee shall be 
" charged with the duties of an Executive Committee and 
" be so designated, and in addition to the duties heretofore 
" performed by the Committee on Rules and Ordinances, 
" shall, at any time, previous to a General Meeting, receive, 
" consider and report to the same all matters requiring any 
" action by the General Society." 
At the Triennial Meeting of the General Society, held in the Sen- 
ate Chamber, State House, Boston, Mass., .Tune 16, 1893, it was unani- 
mously 

"Resolved, That, hereafter, as far as practicable, the 
" Standing Committee prepare an Order of Business for 
" every session of the General Society, subject to such 
" changes in the same as may be ordered by the General 
" Society." 

At the same Triennial Meeting of the General Society, held June 
16, 1893, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, viz. : 

" 1. Resolved, That the Assistant Secretary General 
" shall hereafter act. as Secretary to the Standing Executive 
" Committee, unless he shall be a member thereof, in which 
" case, or in his absence, or for other cause, such Committee 
"may designate a Secretary pro tempore." 

"2. Resolved, That the Standing Executive Committee 
"keep a record of its proceedings and make report of same 
" at every General Meeting." 

" 3. Resolved, That the actual expenses of this Com- 
" mittee be paid by the Treasurer General." 

46 



The Ordinance of May 9, 1890, baving been duly transmitted to 
every existing State Society for its concurred action, every State 
Society, at its next annua] meeing, and in compliance with such Ordi- 
nance and in approval and acceptance thereof, especially appointed a 
Delegate to represent it on the Standing Executive Committee and 
transmitted his credentials, which were duly read in Genera] Meeting, 
and, being found in due form, were ordered on file. Annually there- 
after every one of the continuous Stale Societies has duly appointed a 
Delegate thereto, and every revived State Society has, in like manner, 

concurrently complied with such Ordinance and respectively r< gnized 

its validity by appointing a Delegate to said Committee, and transmit- 
ting his credentials to the General Society. 

This unanimous concurrent action of the State Societies for sev- 
enteen years since adoption of the Ordinance and the unanimous recog- 
nition by the General Society at every Triennial .Meeting, since 1890, 
of the Standing Executive Committee thus created by the unanimous 
concurrent action of all the State Societies, has established the Ordi- 
nance as an authoritative Standing Regulation of the Society of the 
Cincinnati, denning with greater particularity the scope and intent of 
certain delegated and implied powers. 

It cannot, therefore, be abrogated without unanimous consent. 

Under this Ordinance, the Standing Executive Committee acted 
in the revival of your State Society, preliminary to final action by the 
General Society, and it is to be noticed that since such revival your 
Society has. by concurrent action, in compliance with said Ordinance, 
been continuously, and still is, represented on said Executive Com- 
mittee by a Delegate whom you have especially appointed and duly 
accredited. 

It is proper here to notice briefly two remarks of your Treasurer, 
in the first of which he dissents from the " suggestion that any member 
of the various revived Societies owes his standing to-day in the Society 
of the Cincinnati by reason of the action of the General Meeting or its 
Standing Committee," and in the second of which he asserts - that the 
General Meeting has no legal authority, under the Institution to revive 
a dormant i ?) State Society, as that power is inherent in the State 
Societies themselves." 

The ground of this dissent in the first remark he bases uj an 

utterai never replied to of a venerable octogenarian member since 

deceased, who also argued, with equal lack of information, that there 
never was an organized Society of the Cincinnati in France nor any 

47 



heritable succession in its honored French members, although several 
descendants of such members had been duly admitted to hereditary 
membership in his own State Society in recognition of such heritable 
success ii'ii. 

Thai there may be no doubt in the future as to whether this first 
remark of your Treasurer has or not any validity, it is sufficient to say 
that it is negatived by the fact that he owes his own membership in the 
Society of the Cincinnati to the action of the Standing Executive Com- 
mittee in examining into his proofs of descent and in judging of his 
qualifications and claims for membership, and reporting favorably 
thereon to the General Society, which, in accepting and approving the 
report, as to him and others similarly situated, made a condition pre- 
cedent to which they were obliged to assent, that every one of them 
should contribute to the Permanent Fund a sum tixed by the General 
Society, and, for at least three years, be governed by the .Massachusetts 
State Society Rules. 

After all these preliminaries, which were not completed for several 
years, the General Society formally admitted your Treasurer and his 
associates to membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, and this 
course wis pursued with every revived State Society. 

The jurisdiction, in the premises, of the General Society was 
acknowledged so fully that it is nol necessary to discuss the matter. 

None of the gentlemen of your Society whom the General Society 
eventually admitted to membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, 
upon reviving the same, were members thereof until thus admitted. 

The second remark, therefore, of your Treasurer that the General 
Society had no legal authority, under the Institution to revive an extinct 
State Society, is contradicted by the facts as well as by the direct 
acknowledgment of such jurisdiction by those who were admitted when 
your Society was revived. 

The jurisdiction of the General Society in reference to revival of 
extinct. State Societies has been enunciated through a long period, be- 
ginning with 1811, when Veteran Original Members still survived, 
and subsequent resolves or ordinances in 1829, I860, 1863, 1872, 1878, 
1884, 1887, L890, 1893, 1896, 1899, 1902 and L905. 

In 1n72. when the question arose whether the reorganization of an 
extinct State Society required the permission of the General Society, 
it was referred to a Committee, whose report was agreed to and ordered 
entered on the minutes, in which the Committee said : 

48 



"We are fully convinced of the supreme authority of 
"the General Society in such matters, and cannot, and do 
•• not, admit the right of any Stair Society, which has once 
•'had an existence and has since disbanded and distributed 
" the fund which was the main basis of their original organ 
" ization, to resume its original status." 

As all the State Societies of the Cincinnati in America have 
aowledged this supreme jurisdiction of the General Society in the 
premises, the remarks of your Treasurer thereon present nothing- for 
our favorable consideration. 

XV. 

REGULATIONS OF STATE SOCIETIES FOR ADMISSION 
OF MEMBERS. 

Yon- Treasurer, in a resolve proposed by him and adopted at the 
so-called meeting on December 15, 1905, has declared, as to Regulations 
of State Societies relative to admission of members, that some "seem 
in direet conflicl with the lode- laid down by the Institution." 

He has also declared in his explanatory, defensive communication 
that " uniformity does not now exist, and cannot exist, under the present 
conditions." 

ddie Society lias now existed for upward of 123 years, performing 
its allotted patriotic and benevolent duties, and ever growing more and 
more in the esteem and regard of the American people. 

The extreme eagerness to acquire membership and constant and 
tsing inquiries to this end are a fair index that it has lived 
I l<i llh spirit and intent of the Institution. 

While local Regulations <>( State Societies as to qualifications for 
membership may differ in language, the intent to conform to (lie Institu- 
tion has not consciously been lost sight of and, as a consequence, the 
General Society, under its expressly delegated power, has not yet found 
it necessary to fake except ion to any By-Law on this subject. 

In one Slate Society only, can it he -aid that qualifications for 
nission to hereditary membership have been amplified though but 
in a limited degree, for which there has been implied authority recog- 
nized for over a century. 

Before the Southern Continental Army, then in Cantonments in 
and around Charleston, S. C, disbanded, the Continental officers met 
there on Augusl l"->. 1783, and resolved " to accede to the invitation of 

49 



becoming ;i branch of the Society of the Cincinnati," and, accordingly, 
subscribed to the Institution, and that roll was used to form, on that 
' day, the South Carolina State Society. 

Upward of forty of these officers belonged to other Continental 
Lines or Corps than South Carolina, and most, if not all, of them after- 
ward affiliated with their own State Societies. 

On May 23, 1799, the South Carolina State Society addressed the 
General Society and every State Society, including our own, asking 
" countenance and approbation " of a Regulation for their State Society 
declaring all the male descendants of Original Members qualified for 
hereditary membership, in order to prevent their State Society from 
becoming extinct. 

The reasons given for this request tor " countenance and approba- 
tion " were : 

First — If is a melancholy truth that in a climate but 
" too apt to increase the infirmities of human nature and sap 
" the constitution of a man, that deaths have been particularly 
" frequent among the soldiers of the Revolutionary War." 

" Already enfeebled by the severity of service, the en- 
" croaehments of disease have been rapid and fatally de- 
structive, in so much that by far the greater proportion of 
" Original Manlier* composing oar State Society hare been 
" hurried by its progress to an untimely grave, and to the 
"few who yet existed (without the application of some 
effectual remedy) no prospect remained but its speedy and 
total extinction." 

" Second — That our funds, collected for the purposes 
" of benevolence and humanity, and hitherto appropriated to 
" the relief of such of our unfortunate Brethren as have sunk 
" under the pressure of disease or misfortune, were likely to 
" pass into other hands and be diverted into different 
" channels." 

Neither the General Society nor any State Society made objection 
to or expressed disapprobation of this pathetic request. 

No other State Society was in like situation. 

The South Carolina State Society was threatened with speedy ex- 
tinction by decease of its actual South Carolina members and not by 
reason of emigration or other voluntary act of its members. 

The surviving Veteran Members were most solicitous to perpetuate 
it and saw, under the afflictive circumstances, but one way to do so. 

50 



Their brethren in our own and other State Societies sympathized 
with them, and the wisdom of the action taken under the local Regula- 
tion of 1799 was exemplified in the preservation of that honored State 
Society to the present time, respected and honored in its own State and 
ever endeared to us in its membership. 

Since then our Smith Carolina Brethren have limited hereditary 
membership to lineal male descendants of Original Members and mem- 
bers admitted under the Rule of 1854 prior to July 5, 1886, and to the 
eldest lineal male descendant through the eldest male line of Continental 
South Carolina officers qualified by the Institution to have been Origi- 
nal Members, provided, such respective descendants reside in South 
Carolina or in a State where there is no State Society, and. provided 
further, that when there shall he no lineal descendants of a propositus, 
the eldest lineal male descendant through the eldest collateral male 
branch, shall be entitled. 

The time may come when our dear South Carolina Brethren may 
see their way to limitation of hereditary membership in every case to 
the eldest male posterity of qualified Continental or French officers of 
the War of the Revolution for American Independence, but so lone as 
that State Society acts under the implied sanction to their request of 

1799 the subject is one wholly of Stat ncern, which cannot properly 

be excepted to either by the Genera] Society or by our own or by any 
other State Society. 

The Veteran Original Members in South Carolina desired to per- 
petuate their Society, as contemplated by the Institution, while the 
Veteran Original .Members in Virginia and North Carolina put a sure 
and not remote termination to their respective State Societies by never 
entertaining favorably applications for hereditary membership in suc- 
cession to Original Members, nor admitting such as hereditary members. 

It is our belief that all the State Societies endeavor, to the best of 
their ability, to conform strictly to the Institution in all matters con- 
corning admissions to membership. 

If mistakes have been made in admission to hereditary member- 
ship under the Rule of 1854, such infrequent instances, if any there 
be, did not involve personal worthiness, and may be ascribed to inex- 
perience in considering the evidi nee as to the length ami nature of 
service and how terminated, id' a propositus of respectable character and 
honorable record. 

Anv error, if such should arise, could easily be corrected by requir- 
ing further pi f and, in default thereof, giving back the contribution 

51 



to the Permanent Fund and dropping the name from the roll, or declin- 
ing to admit a successor. 

No one can lawfully represent in the Cincinnati, in quality as an 
hereditary member, an ancestor who, under the Institution, was not 
qualified to become an Original Member. 

To the existing State Societies is remitted the determination as 
to who shall be admit led therein respectively as the properly qualified 
representative of such duly qualified ancestor. 

The nature and services of the ancestor is of record, and had he 
chosen, if qualified for membership by his record, to siyn the Institu- 
tion within the prescribed time, he had a right to do so, and no State 
Society could interpose in order to pass on his qualifications. 

Not so with hei'editary applicants vdiose claims as to personal 
worthiness, descent and whether an intervening descendant shall be 
excluded for unworthiness or other valid cause, are all matters for the 
State Society, to which they may respectively apply, which " judges 
of the qualifications." 

For the reasons stated, we do not favorably consider the proposi- 
tion to amend the Institution as to " Rules of Admission,'' there being, 
in our judgment, no occasion for it. 

In closing the consideration of the voluminous printed documents 
submitted for our remarks, we deem it desirable to notice the statement 
of your Treasurer, in which he says: 

" There can be no doubt that the policy and management 
" of the Society lias been for years controlled by a small group 
" of its members. * * * One thing is certain, such a con- 
" dition is no longer desirable or necessary in the Society of 
"the Cincinnati, because all the original thirteen State Socie- 
" ties are now fully revived and in active operation." 

We regret this utterance, because it has no substantial basis, and 
because it shows that the raison d'etre of the Society is not . under- 
stood. 

When His Excellency, President. General Washington, presided 
over the deliberations of the General Society, its members were all dis- 
tinguished officers of the War of the Revolution and representatives of 
the old Colonial gentry. 

The most punctilious courtesy and affectionate demeanor character- 
ized the conduct of these gentlemen toward each other. 

ISTo one offered a resolution unless he believed it would be accept- 
able, and hence the apparent unanimity in all the proceedings. 

52 



This pleasing condition has characterized all the deliberations and 
proceedings of the Genera] Society to the present day, with one notable 
exception in 1881, when a venerable member (heretofore alluded to 
in this communication) made a traversable report, which was there- 
upon laid on the table. 

Conservatism and adherence to precedent have ever been marked 
characteristics of the Society of the Cincinnati, and hence, much to 
the advantage of the Society, particular respect has ever been paid in 
the General Society and State Societies to the utterances of those mem- 
bers of longest experience as delegates or members. 

As a rule, what one may have suggested all have desired, and the 
same rule of action has always obtained in our own Society and in all 
the State Societies of continuous existence. 

It is a delightful condition, truly exemplifying that the Society 
of the Cincinnati is " One Society of Friends." 

The existence of the Standing Executive Committee, upon which 
every State Society has its special duly elected Representative, with the 
President Genera] ex officio, fenders it impossible for the Society and 
management of the Society at any time to be controlled by any : ' group 
of its members." 

In e, inclusion, we perceive no reason why the Institution of 1783 
should be altered or amended. 

The Snciety is first in the esteem of the American people, not only 
from the character of its honored Founders and the Principles it rep- 
resents, but from its extensive and long-continued charities, exemplified 
in the expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars, and its patriotic 
endeavors fittingly illustrated in the magnificent monument erected 
by the Pennsylvania State Society in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 
to His Excellency, President General Washington, and his com- 
patriol 3. 

We have hailed with great pleasure the revival in the past few 
years of six Stare Societies to complete the original thirteen in America 
and, while recognizing that they are not able as yet, in their local delib- 
erations, to have such recourse to older members imbued with knowledge 
of the precedents and conservative procedure of the Society which the 
older State Societies are favored with, yet their appreciation of the 
honor of membership and patriotic spirit will, we are persuaded, bring, 
in time, this source of information in aid of their deliberations. 

We feel especial interest in the welfare of your Society, because 
in Colonial times the intercourse between Virginia and Rhode Island 

53 



was naturally closer than with other Colonies, and there were many 
intermarriages and permanent exchanges of domicile, in consequence 
of which several of our members trace some of their ancestors to the 
Old Dominion. 

We wish you all success in upholding the Principles of our be- 
loved Institution, and pray that the blessing of the Almighty may rest 
on your endeavor. 

By Order: 

George W. Olney, 

Secretary. 



54 



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ERRATUM 

Page 21 — In third tine from bottom after words "to Icorite" 
insert •words "if necessary." 



